We all know how girls are stereotypically represented in video games: bikini clad and wafer thin.

While campaign groups can’t change that image overnight, US website Bulimia.com is trying to show us what our female gaming characters would look like if they were similar in shape as an average-sized American woman.

According the site, they’ve scoured the Internet for fan-favorite video game females, selecting 10 women that are either iconic video game characters from critically acclaimed games or those who we think are particularly egregious examples of unrealistic standards for female video game characters.

These characters were then Photoshopped to reflect the average American female body.

Bulimia.com

“Plus-sized women are a rarity in video games, and when one does show up, she’s typically unusual looking. More often it seems video games are home to ultra-slim waistlines only,” explains the site.

Acknowledging that the images are a parody, nonetheless the experiment certainly shows what our favourite femme fatales would look like if they were real, rather than the fantasy of a video game developer, something here at Pocket-lint we think is a worthy cause to highlight.

The difference between the original video game heroines and their more realistic interpretations is hardly subtle. In these images, unfeasible waistlines expand and arms and legs grow wider. Perhaps the changes are especially noticeable since most of these characters are so scarcely dressed.

Some of the characters actually look far more attractive after the photoshopping than before, so perhaps game developers should take note. We look forward to seeing more realistic female characters in our games in the future.